The First Party

As an adoptee, I don’t have knowledge of diseases or conditions that could have potentially been passed down to me. I don’t know if my biological uncle is an alcoholic or if my grandmother couldn’t set the bottle down. As far as I’m concerned, I am the beginning- the first mark of history.

The First Party is a series of nine self-portraits shot in black-and-white film. Instead of using traditional methods of developing film where the developer solution is diluted with water, I diluted the developer with beer. With each image, I portray the mixture of emotions that I feel as alcohol runs through my blood. Each stain, each streak, each blurred moment realizes my damaged memory–an effect of alcohol and the result of an uncharted boy.